Pending Sale
As of May 2020, there are nine listing statuses a property in the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service (ARMLS®) can be in. To explain why and when you might need to discuss these statuses with your agent, we’re dedicating a blog post to each one.
Arizona MLS Statuses
- Delayed
- Active
- Contract Contingent on Buyer Sale (CCBS)
- Under Contract – Backups (UCB)
- Pending
- Temporarily Off Market (TOM)
- Expired
- Cancelled
- Closed
When a seller in the Phoenix Metro Area accepts an offer on a property for sale, the listing status must be changed to either CCBS, UCB, or Pending. To learn about UCB, click on the corresponding link above and give it a read.
Now, let’s talk about the Pending status.
What does Pending mean to home sellers?
According to ARMLS®, a listing in Pending status has an accepted offer and is no longer being marketed for sale. Therefore, most consumer-facing third-party sites do not display Pending listings in their search results. One noteworthy benefit is that the ARMLS® Days on Market (DOM) counter stops on the day a listing goes into Pending status. For example, if a listing goes into Pending status on Day 5, but then falls out of escrow on Day 20, the home may be put back into Active status and will display 5 days on the market, not 20 days! Finally, you and your agent might choose to add a Pending Sale rider to your For Sale sign.
What does Pending mean to home buyers?
Like properties in CCBS and UCB status, Pending listings are under contract with another buyer. Unlike CCBS and UCB, the seller of a Pending listing has indicated he/she is no longer interested in actively marketing (or, in all likelihood, showing the property) to additional buyers. One of the most common struggles we know that buyers have is when they see a For Sale sign in a yard somewhere and then try to find it online – not knowing that it is already under contract. Depending on what site you’re searching, some consumer-facing third-party sites simply add “Pending Sale” banners to pending listings, while other sites remove them altogether. If you’re working with a Realtor®, though, he or she should be able to find the property and tell you what it’s status is.
A prospective buyer may still make a backup offer on a Pending listing. However, as we discussed in a previous post, home sellers don’t have to respond to every offer they receive. And they might not if they are satisfied with how their current sale is progressing.
As helpful as we know some websites can be during the early stages of buying a home, the most reliable source of Active listings for sale is still a local Realtor®. If you want an easy-to-use home search service that clearly labels the status of every listing, contact us and we’ll gladly set one up for you. If you’d rather set up your own account and get started now, you can find our free home search here.
